Could be that Norton is doing a scan. Try unplugging from the internet and disabling Norton also and see if the usage continues. Many of the anti-virus and -spyware programs can grab up 50% of CPU usage (usually is explorerwhich you see) for no reason. I have switched to ZoneAlarm Security Suite and SpyBot as the only resident malware cops and no longer have explorer problems.

Do you by any chance have two examples of explorer.exe listed in Task Manager? This can also cause the problem.

Ok I unplugged my internet, then turned off everything in norton. Still no change what so ever in usage. I'm thinking of reformating, but i don't want to spend hours on the phone with dell. No offense I just am not a phone person. I've checked out the explorer.exe problem. Read about it on another website. It's not that.

Any other idea's?

Do you have more than one copy of explorerin Task Manager?

To see what happens, go to task manager and right click on explorer then select end process. Your desktop should disappear. Wait a minute then click on File then New Task and type in explorer.exe then OK. Everything should come back. Does explorer usage stay low or go back to 50%?

Did you deactivate Norton by right ckicking on the Norton icon in the notification area and click on whaterver will stop the whole program?

I did what you said, End process Explorer.exe. It worked. My usage dropped to 0-6%. Does that explain the problem any? Hopefully so.

Message Edited by 1up on 03-18-2006 06:28 PM

Did you restart the explorer process. If not, please restore it and see what happens to CPU usage.

I would uninstall Norton completely (disconnect from Internet first) and see what happens. Norton is a pig, and the uninstall will take awhile.